UK Shoppers Forecast to Spend £10bn in Black Friday Sales

Mostly in UK purchases are been made online and spread over the week with the big bargains and have less common as the retailers are battling against rising costs and inflation.

British shoppers expected to spend about £10.1bn in the week of Black Friday, which is nearly 4% higher than last year. The bargain fever already seen in earlier years is thought unlikely to materialize as most activity will be online. Experts already warned that the discounts are likely to be less exciting on the day, which falls on 24 November this year.

Companies find hard to deliver with big price cut in margins amid strong inflation partly resulting from the fall in the value of the pound since last year’s Brexit vote and also as well as rising business rates and other costs.

Eleanor Parr at retail analysis firm GlobalData said “There is an increase in cost prices made retailers unable to offer the level of discounts advertised in 2016, demand may be waved as consumers feel less inclined to make bargain purchases on impulse”.

Gary Caffell consumer advice sight Money saving expert, said that it is possible to get a good deal but warned: “There’s a lot of duds out there so do your research. Just because something says it is 70% it doesn’t mean it is a good deal. It might be cheaper down the road.”

Parr added “Electrical products are the main focused products of Black Friday discounts were likely to be affected the most by inflation with fashion and home wares also affected”.

A tough October endured in fashion market with the ongoing relatively warm weather is likely to encourage stores to try and use Black Friday. It is a way to reduce stocks of coats and other cold weather gear.

Asda on Black Friday continues with no special deals or activity planned on the day after tussles in the store 3 years ago. Grocery discounter Lidl is going to join fray for the first time this year. Tesco ready to ramp up activity with more than 700 stores and 187 of its largest outlets opening at 1 AM for the bargain hunters.

Amazon, which introduced Black Friday to the UK, kicks off its sale on Friday. EPOS Direct offers sale up to 50% off on epos systems at just £899.Some of the online electrical stores like AO and rival Currys PC World began to offer discounts on Monday and Argos started on Wednesday. All the stores are trying to avoid a big squeeze on their delivery and IT infrastructure by spreading demand over a period of time.

Retailers investing heavily in improving their computing capabilities with epos systems and delivery networks after 2015 when as many as one in five online retailer’s websites crashed on Black Friday due to heavy traffic including the John Lewis, boots and Argos.

However, £1.74m is expected to spend every minute online in the UK on Black Friday. According to online figures trade association IMRG and the courier’s insurance firm Stavely Head, with £700m spent before 9am.

Stavely Head predicts that more than 82,000 vehicles will hit the road. Top five delivery firms using nearly 20,000 extra vans and cars with more than 80%, in order to deliver Black Friday purchases to homes.